Plinth plate



Nov. 17, 1925.

. E. L. DRINKwATER PLINTH PLATE Filed Feb. 11, 1924 Patented Nov. I7,1925.

narran s'rarss EDG-AR I.. nnmiiwnfrnn, or CHICAGO, 'ILLINoIs PLINTI-IPLATE. l i

Application filed February 11,-, 19%. Serial No. 691,962.

, T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known Vthat I, EDGAR L. DRINK- wA'rnn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PlinthPlates, of` which the followingis a specification.

. This invention pertains to plinth plates adapted for use in buildingconstructions to surround the horizontal branch pipes leading from theriser heating pipes to the radiators, the plates being employed for thepurpose of covering the openings in the par-` titions from which the.branch pipes emerge.

The openings through the partition 'walls must necessarily be largeenough toafford considerable clearance around the pipes in y order topermit the rise and fall of these pipes resulting from the longitudinalexpansion and contraction of the riser pipes. In order to produce afinished appearance the openings around the pipes must be covered, andone of the primary purposes of my present invention is to provide aplinth plate which will cover these openings around the pipes andpresent a finished appearance where the pipes come through the baseboardor other portions of the wall and which will accommodate the movementsof the pipes caused by the expansion and contraction of the riser pipes.Another object is to provide a plinth plate which will permit theradiator branch pipes to be disposed invertical alignment therebyeliminating the Oifsets and the expense of the elbows and labor ofinstalling such offsets heretofore considered necessary.

A further object is to provide a plinth plate of separable constructionso that it can be applied to the pipes after they have been installed.This feature is of material importance in building construction for thereason that it permits the radiator branches to be roughed in and thebase trim to be installed and mitered at the ,corners whereupon theplinth plate can be applied as the last operation. This feature enablesthe plinth plates to be plated or otherwise finished beforeinstallation. A separable plinth Vplate of this character also permitsof the installation and removal of the plinthplates to accommodate'changes in partitions in acings.

cordance with the requirements ofthe building tenants both during andafter 'construction and Without disturbing the radiator branch pipes. nI

The removal of the separable plinth plato further allows completeremovalof the base lwire slot cover and affords unrestricted ac- .7.cess to the low tension wire slot, usually in-` stalled in the baseinmodern office building construction.

Other objects andY advantages of this. in-` vention should be readilyappreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to thefollowing description when considered in connection with theaccompanying draw- Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view of a building construction showing inelevation the installation of one of my improved plinth plates; Y

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through a wall showing theinstallation of a pair of plinth plates; y i

Fig. 3 is a face view ofone of therduplicate sections of which my plateis composed.

Fig. 4 is an assembly view showing the `two sections in assembledrelation;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4;;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1; y n

Fig. 7 is an end view of the plate' section illustrated in Fig. 3; and

Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary sectional views on the lines 88 and 9-9 ofFig. 4.-

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, reference character 11-indicates generally a partition wall, formed customarily of tile orbuilding blocksV as illustrated, to

which are attachedthe nailing strips or plaster grounds 12 to which thebaseboard is secured. I The baseboard may be of any preferredconstruction but inI the'v presentinstance it is illustrated as being ofthe .sectional type comprising a base member 13, a

top member 11i and an intermediate removable member 15, the removal ofwhich permits access to the space 17 behind the board in which the lowtension electric wires for the building are disposed.

Reference charaoteis 18 and 19 indicate the branch pipes leading fromriser heating pipes Yto a radiator, and while the riser pipes arecustomarily installed in a vertical par` tition wall or in a column, Ihave illustrated in the present instance my invention as applied to apartition wall through which the branch pipes 18 and 19 extend. Itshould be manifest, however, that my invention is equally applicable tothe partitions or walls out of which the branch pipes emerge from therisers.

A plinth plate constructed in accordance with my invention comprises twoduplicate preferably cast sections indicated generally by referencecharacters 21 and 22, and since the sections are duplicates of eachother, a detailed description of one of them should suffice for anunderstanding of the invention. Referring therefore more particularly tothe section 21, it will be observed that the section comprises a faceplate 23 having a finished outer surface and provided on its rear facewith a shallow rearwardly extending rib 24 disposed longitudinally ofthe plate, the rib being terminated at its lower end as indicated at 25and being provided near its uppei' end with a notch or recess 26 adaptedto accommodate the lug 27 on the complement-al section whereby thesections are locked together against relative longitudinal displacement.As will be apparent from Fig. 3 each of the sections is substantiallyU-shaped, the leg 28 being shaped in cross section as illustrated inFig. 6, and being rearwardly offset from the face plate 28 to lie behindthe rib 24 of the complemental section sov as to `leave a guidewaybetween the ribs 24, andA at the back of the face plates 23 bet-Ween therear surfaces of these plates and the opposed edges of the legs 28, inwhich guideway the piper embracing members, which will be laterdescribed, are disposed.y This guideway is indicated in Figs. 5 and 8 byreference character 31. A deep cross rib 82 extends from the'upper endof the rib 24 transversely of the face plate 23 to the base of the leg28'and this rib is equal in depth to the depth of the leg 28 plus therib 24so that when the parts are assembled a rectangular frame is formedadapted to set into the opening in the baseboard as will be apparentfrom Fig. 2. The face plates present a finish over the frame and theshape of the plates is such that when assembled they provide anelongated slot 83, Fig. 4, through which the pipes 18 and 19 extend asshown in Fig. l.

The two complemental sections are held against relative longitudinaldisplacement when in assembled position, by engagement of the lugs 271mthe notches 26,'as previously described,y and the sections are also heldagainst relative lateral` displacement or separation by the engagementcfa lug 34 on the back of each plate in a notch formed in the opposedforward edge of the cross rib 32. This construction is illustrated indetail in Fig. 9 and also in dotted lines in Fig. 4. The sections whenin assembled relation form an escutcheon comprising a slotted face platethe slot of which is surrounded by a rearwardly projecting flanged frameadapted to enter the opening in the baseboard or other portion of thewall from which the pipes project thereby permitting the back of theface plate to lie snugly against the margins of the opening.

In the guideway previously described, which guideway is defined at itsends by the cross ribs 82 and at its sides by the ribs 24 and isproduced by the spacing of the inwardly projecting portion 86 of thelegs 28 away from the rear faces of the plates 28,

as will be' apparent from F 6, are disposed liller plates one of whichis indicated by reference character 29 and the other by referencecharacter 37. These filler plates are adapted to embrace the pipes 18and 19 and while they may beof any preferred construction such, forinstance, as rectangular plates of relatively thin met-al, each providedwith a circular opening to receive a pipe and each being cut throughfrom its margin to the opening at one side so that it can be twisted andslipped over the pipe, prefer for convenience in manufacture andassembly to employ filler plates formed lof sheet metal and' eachslotted inwardly from one side to accommodate a pipe or pipes in theslot or slots with which each plate is provided. Each plate may beprovided with one slot so that each pipe is embraced by two plates, inwhich entrance the plates engaged with one pipe overlap the platesengaged with the other pipe, thus permit ting relative vertical movementbetween the pipes, or only two plates, each having two slots, may beemployed if preferred. When these plates are slipped over the pipes fromopposite sides and are disposed in the guideway of the escutcheon theyembrace the pipes, overlap each other as indicated at 1G, and close theslot 33 in the escutcheon thereby presenting a finished appearance tothe plinth plate. The filler plates, however, are of such length andwidth that they are capable of vertical and horizontal sliding.movements in thc guideway to permit of the rise and fall and lateralmovement of the branch pipes due toexpansion and contraction of theriser pipes without any movement of the escutcheon which is rigidlysecured to the baseboard by a pair of wood screws 38 which inconjunction with the lugs and recesses previously described hold theescutcheon sections against i relative movement. The clearance y betweenthe edges of the plate and the guideways is indicated byreferencecharacters 2O andk 30.v

l1n assembling the plinth plate aroand the l pipes already installed inthe partition, the filler plates are first slipped onto the pipe fromopposite sides, whereupon the escutcheon sections are positioned aroundthe pipes from the top and bottom respectively and brought together soas to dispose the filler plate in the guideway, whereupon the entireassembly is slid along the pipes to introduce the rearwardly projectingframe into the opening in the baseboard and bring the face plates snuglyagainst the margin of the opening, whereupon the assembled plate issecured to the baseboard by the lscrews 38. lVhen thus assembled theclearance between the pipes and the walls of the surrounding. opening isentirely covered by the plinth plate so as to present a neat, attractiveand finished appearance and the inovability of the filler plates in theescutclieon guideway permits of the requisite movements of the pipeswithout imposing any strain upon the plate or the wall and withoutleaving any opening into the space behind the baseboard. Thisconstruction furthermore permits the pipes to be disposed in verticalalignment instead of being offset one relatively to the other as hasheretofore-been the practice, and this alignment eliminates the expenseof the offsets, which because of the elbows necessarily employed and thelabor of threading and installing the offsets, has prior to my inventionbeen an expensive feature of construct-ion. The escutclieon sectionsbeing complemental and duplicates of each other and being of castconstruction can be very economically manufactured and the wholestructure is capable of being easily and quickly assembled and installedafter the branch pipes have been run and after the baseboards have beenmounted. Furtherinore the ability to mount the baseboards andsubsequently apply the plinth plates enables the baseboards to beextended through to the corners and mitered thus making a completelyfinished and desirable job.V The application of the plinth plates at anytime and also the capability of removal when desired enables partitionsto be built and removed as required without disturbing in any way thepipe connections.

l believe that the construction and many of the attendant advantages ofmy invention should bc understood from the foregoing without furtherdescription and it should be manifest that the structural detailsillustratcd and described are capable of considei'able modilicationwithout departing from the essence of the invention as defined in thefollowing claims.

I claim:

l. A plinth plate comprising a slotted escutclieon composed of a pair ofcomplemental U-shaped members, one `leg of each member forming a sectionof a face plate and the other leg being rearwardly offset from saidfacey plate, said members being an elongated pipe receiving slot, and aguideway at the rear of said slot, andy pipe engag` ing slotclosingmeans slidablydisposed in said guideway. f

3. A plinth plate comprising Van escutcheoii composed of a pair ofcoinplemental interengaging sections, each section being of general Ushape having one leg offset rear wardly relatively to the other, theforward leg being provided with a section of a face plate and the rearleg being laterally extended to form in conjunction with an opposed faceplate a filler plate guideway, and a pipe embracing' filler platedisposed 1n said guideway.

4. A plinth plate comprising an escutcheon composed of a pair ofcomplemental sections, each section being formed to provide a portion ofa face plate having a longitudinally extending rib on its rear face, across rib at one end thereof, and a leg projecting from one end of saidcross rib in parallelism with said longitudinally extending rib, saidleg being rearwardly offset relative to said rib and each of saidsections being provided with interengaging elements whereby saidsections are held against longitudinal and lateral displacement relativeto each other. y

5. A plinth plate as set forth in claim 8 in which the pair ofcomplemental sectionsy form when assembled anv elongated slot adapted toreceive a plurality of pipes in vertical alignment.

6. A plinth plate as set forth in claim S in which the sectionalescutcheon provides an elongated slot adapted to receive a plurality'kof pipes in vertical alignment, and filler plates embracing said pipesand closing said slot, said filler plates being movable longitudinallyof the slot with said'pipes.

7 A plinth plate as set forth in'claim 8 in whichl the sectionalescutcheon formv conipleinental sections providing a pipe receivingopening, and a pipe embracing filler4v plate slidably associated withsaid escutchq een and adapted to close'said opening.

8. A plinth plate comprising aii escutcheon composed of a plurality ofinterengag-l ing sections adapted when assembled to provide a pipereceiving opening, each section being of general U shape with one legoset relatively to the other so that said sections when assembled willpresent a flat front face.4

9. A plinth plate comprising a plurality of U shaped sections, one leg,`of each section being provided with a section of a face plate, said'sections when assembled providing an escutcheon having;- a centerpipereceving opening. Y

l0. A plinth plate comprising a plurality of U-shaped sections, one leg'of each section beingprovided With a section of a face plate, saidsections When assembled providing an escutcheon having a center platereceiving opening, and filler plates adapted to embrace a pipe inclosedWithin said opening, said filler plates beingv movable relativelyrecentie to each other and relatively to said escutchcon in Conformity`With vertical or lateral movements oi' a pipe Within said opening.'

1l. A plinthplate comprising a plurality of U-shaped sections, one legof each section being provided with a section of a face plate, saidsections when assembled providing an escutcheon having a center platereceiving opening, and a filler means adapted to embrace a pipeprojecting through said opening and for closing the opening around saidpipe, said means being'movable relatively to the escutcheon inconformity With vertical or lateral movements of a pipe Within saidopening.

EDGAR L.v DRINKWATER.

